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Looking at the profile of Jango in Vanity Fair, the blue paint seems almost irredescent. Has anyone tried to replicate this? I was thinking of finding a 'pearlized' clearcoat to achieve this. I think it would give the metal a more realistic look too as the color will change depending on the angle viewed & light source. If anyone has tried this let me know. I don't want to repaint my armor & end up looking like DISCO FETT.uke

You have to get a pearl white or an irridescent pearl aluminum paint, both offered by House of Kolor. Depending on what you choose, these will have to be layered and cleared. Personally I would reccomend doing it as follows:
After primering at least twice, a heavy (no runs) coat of aluminum or steel (Metalic),Then a medium coat of white pearl. Now, before the pearl dries completely, wetsand it until you start seeing the silver through. Apply a second coat, alittle thicker, and lightly, very lightly, wetsand it again. Now you take your blue, whatever colour this helmet should be, and mix a 50/50 with the pearl white. Coat it on thin, wetsand, and then again. Now you have a choice, leave it(lighter) or apply very thin dustings of your blue until you achieve the desired colour. Whenever you obtain your colour, go a shade darker, then wetsand. Now you let this completely dry, overnight. You now need to shoot it with a non yellowing clear. Chances are this will need to be mixed, as the colours do. Two coats should be fine, depending on how much depth and reflection you want. Other options you may wish to explore are Ghost painting, Phantom painting, Powdercoating, or maybe using a candy undercoat. Well, I hope this helps you. By the way, This is for a perfect helmet. If you want a damaged look, you will have to take those steps described in other posts before you layer this paint job on. Using rubber cement or Frisket (liquid) to prevent you from pearling your damaged areas.

I'm in the process of changing my DP Boba helment into a Jango, so I need to patch up a few spots including the dent, with bondo. But I found that when I painted it with silver, the bondo turned a flat color while the rest was the way it should be. Would a simple coat of a flat color and another coat over that fix the problem?

When I use Bondo on parts I make sure to put a few good coats of a sandable primer over it before any other paint.This should take care of the problem. You should also use diferent grades of sandpaper to sand the bondo and for the final sand use an extra fine grit like 1500 or so.This will give it a nice smooth glasslike finish.

Along with these suggestions, if your after a uniform and VERY smooth suface, wetsanding is the way to go. Use different grades of sandpaper, like was said earlier, and when you get to the last sanding (rough), wet the helmet, then after painting, wetsand about three or four times. After clearing (1st coat) wetsand using emery paper, then clear again, and wetsand with a very fine green scratchpad. Dry it off, and it will reflect very well, and be extremely smooth. All the other advice that has been given to you on this topic is also needed. At least two primer coats are a must. Also another note, if you are Bonoing on fiberglass, make sure you rough sand the glass very well before applying the bondo. And apply the bondo in a few thin coats instead of one large one. This saves the knockdown time and adheres better. I'm sure you would be very unhappy if you dropped your helmet and the repaired spots popped out of your helmet.I've seen this happen to cars, so I'm sure it can happen to other things, just take your time and sand, sand, and sand again until you get what you want.

P.S. When primering, it never hurts to knock down each coat for better adhesion.

I used 1/8 sintra for the armor. All the painting is from a spray can, no airbrushing needed. I primered the armor with 2 medium coats of grey sandable primer & let dry for at least 24 hrs. I then sanded by hand with 400 grit wet & dry sandpaper with plenty of water and a little liquid dish soap for lubrication (to help remove the paint particles from the sanding) until the armor was smooth. Don't worry about the odd sanding scratches that did not come out , they will just add to the weathered look. Next I painted a base coat of silver & while still wet randomly misted with a pewter color. Let dry 24hrs and lightly sand using the above method to remove any "orange peel". Repeat with the silver/ pewter combination. By now you should have a nice random mottled effect and a smooth surface. Again let dry for at least 24 hrs. Now you can hit it again with a really fine sandpaper. I used 1500 grit and randomly sanded in a circular motion to remove high spots and any orange peel (there really was not much at this stage). You should now have armor that closely resembles unfinished metal in a satin finish. Looking at an angle in the light will show off all of the random swirl marks which makes it look as if the metal has been buffed. If you want to dirty it up a little, try a little graphite and rub into the surface. If you do this you will have to seal it with a clearcoat finish & repeat the final 1500 grit sand for the swirls. I didn't do this yet on the armor that you saw, but I think it will add more realism to it.

Experiment a little. I rushed some of the drying times & added multiple coats. The whole trick is to use the best paint possible. I used Motomaster automotive touch up lacquer paint from Canadian Tire. I found that this paint dries quickly and produces a hard SMOOTH finish. Stay away from Krylon chrome -too much orange peel.

I just stopped by Wal-Mart to check out the silver paint for my Jango armor and found this Rust-oleum Hammered texture silver paint and I think it's really cool. Once you spray it on it gives it a somewhat worn look and takes out any small imperfections on the surface of the armor. It dries hard and doesnt dull to the touch. Just wanted to shout that out.

Best advice...pick up a few differnt cans of chrome spray paint from different manufactures as well as gloss or semigloss top caot sealer. Spray them on some test pieces. That's how I did my original JF costume for Dragon*con...

just keep spraying differnt paints until you find the one that looks right to you. Air burshing works best but if you have neither the equipment nor experience using one...just go with spray paint...

Clear coat sometimes tends to make chrome paint look grey. I used Plasti-coat automotive paint(medium silver) on mine. It looks like aluminum, has a durable, glossy surface, and you can get it at Wal-Mart.

The main problem with clear coats is that they will usually re-wet the paint you apply them over, if they are of the same type. This isn't much of a problem with regular colors, as this does little to the color itself. Metallics, however, are a bit different than regular paints, and re-wetting the surface can deleaf the finish, causing it to cloud up.

Your best bet for clear coating is to let the paint dry THOROUGHLY. This can be two days or a week. Plain label Rustoleum takes a long time to dry, and often metallics do as well. The Painter's Touch Rustoleum paints are much faster drying. Plus, sometimes, you just get a bad can of paint. (ALWAYS test your paint on a scrap of material first, preferably the same material you will be painting.) Anyhow, once the paint is dry, laquer can be used as a clear coat. If the paint is thoroughly dry, the laquer will probably not harm the paint you apply it over, and can even enhance the shine of some metallics. Testor's is the best for this, as it was formulated to be applied over their enamels, and will not re-wet most enamels. Rustoleum Laquer works well too, but I have had it react with some cheaper brands of paint. Again, paint a scrap of material, let it dry a day or two, and then spray the laquer and see what happens.

Another option is wax. I sometimes use furniture wax to apply a good shine over surfaces. It's also has the double value of being a releasing substance, which makes it easier to remove stuff thet gets spilled onto your piece. It's not as scratch resistant as a clear coat, but then, most things that scratch the paint would scratch the clear coat too, so it makes little difference. Just apply the wax, let it dry, and buff it. Be warned, though, some paints will be dissolved by the wax, so again, test it before ruining your handiwork.

I find painting the lightest color first then the darker colors is easiest, You will need less coats of paint to cover the lighter color than you would the darker. Go with the silver/chrome first, then mask off everything you DON'T want blue, then paint the lighter blue. Try to peel the tape back on itself when removing so you don't lift the edges of the fresh paint. I usually do this right away. Let dry for a day or two then you can mask off everything that you don't want to paint the darker blue & follow the same procedure.

I don't know if it's been brought up here or not, but according to a very "reliable source", Jango's silver parts where painted with regular silver spray paint, not chrome. After the parts where painted, they were then treated with "Rub-N-Buff". It's a waxy paste with metallic particles which you rub into the surface of your finish, then buff out. You can get this from most or your larger craft stores. It's sold in little tubes.

This was the method that the prequel prop masters used to "metalize" quite a bit of their non-metalic props. The source of this information is definitely someone who should know.

I've been working on a Jango helmet and, to my great dismay, when I removed the masking tape, some of the blue lifted up with it. The blue I was using was a satin made by Krylon, and the Silver paint below was the cheaper Wal-mart brand.

Has this happened to anyone else? Was it the cheap silver that caused the blue to peel? I think I used the same silver on my Boba helmet and that did not peel. Any suggesstions or wisdom would be greatly appreciated.

What type of masking tape are you using? If you are using regular masking tape, it will peel the paint because it is too strong. You need to use painters tape. The adheasive is not too strong, so it won't pull up the paint. Also, I try to use the same brand of paints. The quality of paints vary from brand to brand, and some paints don't stick well with others. Krylon has always been a good brand.

You could also try scuff sanding the surface with 320 before you apply the blue paint. Also I recommend removing the tape carefully while the paintis not totally dry & be sure to peel the tape back on itself & not at perpendicular to the surface.

I had teh same problem about a month ago. In the end I ended up trashing the helmet royally. Anyhow, the problem sounds like you didn't wait long enough for the krylon to dry. I know sometimes that an hour or two seems fine, even to the touch. but you have to realize that it is still not completely dry and to be sure, just to leave it overnight in between paints. But with paints such as krylons, etc, you have to be TOTALLY sure that your paint is set .